Lord of the Rings: Part II
by Cattie-chan
Summary: This is a Sequel to "Lord of the Rings: Part I". Elariniel is now together with Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli trying to rescue Merry and Pippin but, inside her heart, she wants to save Saruman as well. Will she be able to do it? Will the Love and Friendship Galadriel told her about help her? Read to know!
1. Chapter 1: Memories

**A/N:**

**Hi everyone! Finally! After more than one year, I'm starting to release Part II of my fanfic! (centered on "The Two Towers") I hope you enjoy it! I'm enjoying writing it!**

**This is a Sequel to Lord of the Rings: Part I, a story that tells how the youngest daughter of Elrond, Elariniel, ended up joining the fellowship! To read the first part, make sure to check my profile! I hope you enjoy.**

**This is a 10th-Walker. If you don't like, don't read. Flames will be deleted, but constructive criticism will be highly accepted! I hope you like my story!**

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**Chapter 1 – Memories**

We have been running for a three days, without resting or sleeping. We were chasing the Uruk-hai who kidnapped our two Hobbit friends – Merry and Pippin. The terrain was steep and dangerous.

I started to think about the day I first went to Isengard and memories of that day filled my head. I was way younger. I was with my father, by the main entrance of Rivendell.

"_Elariniel" Father said "Take care, in Isengard. Saruman will take good care of you, I'm sure he will"_

_My younger self grinned at my father._

"_At least, I'll get to know Isengard. And I'll learn new things" I said._

_My father smiled and hugged me. After that, an Elf I didn't know by that time approached. He was tall, lean and fair, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. _

"_This is Haldir of Lórien" Father explained, while looking at the elf "He will take you to Isengard and, every time you visit Rivendell, Haldir will escort you"_

"_Right" I said, smiling._

_I looked at the elf. He seemed serious. Not very talkative at all._

"_Now, off you go. Have a safe journey" Father said, as I climbed up my horse. I was ready to face new studies._

_The elf named Haldir climbed up his horse as well and we left Rivendell. I waved at father, before losing him from my gaze._

_My eyes fell unconsciously on the elf that was riding by my side. Not a single little hint of a smile. I was starting to dislike his serious expression. Also, he looked older than me. Probably he was just thinking I was a child._

"_Haldir of Lórien" I called out, after a long silence. We had been riding for almost two hours now, and no one had said a word._

"_Yes, Lady Elariniel?" He asked, glancing at me, before looking back to the road once again._

"_Is there anything that troubles you?" I asked._

"_No, Lady Elariniel" He replied, not going any further._

_I sighed. And he seemed to notice it._

"_Anything's wrong?" He asked._

"_Well, yes" I replied, trying to go straight to my point. Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, but this time, I'm happy I didn't "It seems like you don't enjoy my company"_

_This time, he was the one who sighed._

"_It's not like that, Lady Elariniel" he hastened to explain "I just don't know what you'd like to talk about"._

"_Anything's fine" I replied, smiling openly "I'm sure you know things I don't know about Middle-Earth. I'd like to hear about them. Also, call me just Elariniel. I don't like formalities"_

_He looked at me with a quizzical expression and then started talking about Lothlórien, the home of my mom, and about a lot of other things. _

I smiled to myself while remembering that and hoped that I could get to see Haldir again soon. He had become a special friend to me.

"What are you smiling at, Master Elf?" I heard Gimli's voice asking beside me.

My mind came back to what I was doing and I realized that I had slowed down my pace a bit while I was remembering things from the past.

"It's nothing. Was just thinking about my past" I explained.

Legolas, who was running a bit ahead of us looked back to me and Gimli, after hearing that.

"Elariniel, Gimli, come on!" He said, and kept on running.

I nodded and run to catch up to Legolas and Aragorn, leaving a complaining Gimli behind.

The view of the places we had been running didn't change much and the terrain was still very, very steep.

A bit ahead, Aragorn stopped and inched close to the ground. He made his ear touch the rock where he was laying, so we could listen.

"Their pace has quickened" he announced, as he stood back up, looking at us "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!"

He began to run again and I hastened to follow him, followed by Legolas who caught up to me quickly and Gimli was the last one, trying his best to catch up to us.

"Come on, Gimli!" Legolas encouraged, looking back to him.

I saw Gimli stopping for a little bit, breathing heavily.

"Three days and nights pursuit" I heard him saying "No food. No rest. And no sign of our quarry but what a bare rock can tell!"

I waved to Gimli, making him a signal to hurry up. He nodded and kept running. We started getting along better since the boat's accident, but we still tease each other quite a bit. Well, Dwarves don't like Elves and Elves don't like Dwarves.

We kept on running through rocks and plains, tirelessly. My mind went back to my taught and I let myself slowly get lost in them once again.

_My younger self was riding an horse, back home from Isengard. I would go home for two weeks every year. While I was home, my father, Lord Elrond, made sure I was learning new things and growing up and getting wiser. I was never very wise. Haldir was riding beside me. I was teaching him to sing the lullaby my mom, Celebrían, used to sing._

"_Haldir, come on, your turn to sing" I said, laughing, with my long dark hair, like my sister's, flying to the wind freely, behind me._

_He looked at me and giggled. Then, he started singing quietly, the song I had just taught him._

"_Now make sure to sing it to my grandparents, once you get back to Lothlórien" I suggested, when he finished._

"_I wouldn't dare, Elariniel" he replied, looking to the ground._

_I sighed and looked back at him, and tried to make my horse stop for a bit, but, instead, it got out of control and started running, like if it was scared of something. I lost balance, on top of it and fell off._

"_Elariniel!" I heard Haldir's worried voice, and saw him running to me, after jumping off his horse "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"_

_I looked up and sat up. I had my hands bleeding and my head bleeding a bit too._

"_I'm fine, don't worry, it was just a little fall, I'm not pushed out of 'battle' like that!" I exclaimed trying to smile a bit._

_He smiled at me, but still looked concerned. Either way, he gave me his hand, to pull me back on my feet, before healing the small cuts on my hands and on my head._

_I tried to get up but I lost balance and fell again. My right foot was hurting too much._

"_What's wrong?" he asked again, kneeling beside me._

_I looked into his eyes before telling him._

"_I can't stand up" I said, finally, after a long silence "My ankle hurts"._

_He took my boot off and got a way to heal it fast. He said some words in elvish and then put a bit of his cloak as a bandage. He did the same for my hands and my head. Then, he picked me up on his arms and pulled me to his horse. My horse had ran off and was nowhere to be seen. He hastened to ride to Rivendell, where my Father and my siblings would be waiting. I sighed, feeling the pain on my foot still filling my whole body. Suddenly, I heard Haldir's voice starting singing the Lullaby. _

"_Haldir?" I started._

"_Yes?" He asked, looking down at me._

"_You must treasure that Lullaby. I don't usually teach it to others. Besides you, and my family, of course, there's just one more that knows that lullaby, but, there's something preventing me from remembering who that person is"._

I came back to reality with Gimli shouting behind me something about the rocks. I looked to Legolas, he was running a bit ahead of me, just behind Aragorn. Could he be the one I taught the Lullaby before? He said he felt young when he was with me, that time, in Lothlórien, when I was half-asleep. I decided to keep that to myself and quickened my pace, trying not to get lost in thoughts again. I caught up to Aragorn and, as I did so, I saw something on the ground, shining. I hastened to pick it. It was one of the brooches from our cloaks. It should belong either to Merry or Pippin. I missed their good spirits so much. I hoped our quest to find them and rescue them wouldn't fail.

"A leaf of Lórien" I said.

Legolas who was still running joined us.

"Not idly do the leaves of Lórien Fall" Aragorn said.

"They may yet be alive" Legolas concluded.

"We need to hurry, then!" I exclaimed, hoping shining in my eyes once again. I was _not_ about to lose two other friends.

"Less than a day ahead from us! Come!" Aragorn exclaimed, and ran off again.

I hastened to follow him, and so did Legolas. I heard a noise behind us and saw Gimli stumbling from behind some rocks and rolling to the ground.

"Gimli! Hurry up! We're catching up!" I called out to him.

"Come on Gimli!" Legolas joining me, cheering for the dwarf "We're gaining on them!"

Gimli got up again and tried to run as fast as he could, panting heavily. And complaining.

"I am wasted on cross-country" I heard his voice saying, with a funny tone "We dwarves, are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances!"

I tried to picture Gimli being faster than Aragorn or Legolas running a short distance. Somehow, that was impossible for me to imagine and I let out a giggle. And Gimli seemed to notice.

"What is so funny, Master Elf?" he asked me.

"Oh nothing, nothing, I was just lost in thoughts again" I explained, trying to cover the real reason of my giggling.

We came over a hill and we stopped to gaze across the plains below.

"Rohan" Aragorn declared "Home of the horse-lords"

I looked around. The plains were so green and beautiful, just under us.

"There's something strange at work here" he continued "Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us"

I saw Legolas running ahead and looking at the horizon. I joined him fast, in quick and light steps.

"Legolas!" Aragorn called out "What do your elf-eyes see?"

Legolas looked at the horizon for a second longer, before replying.

"The Uruks turn northeast! They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"

That word hit me hard.

"Saruman!" I heard Aragorn's quiet voice muttering.

All of it was still hard to believe, for me. After all, I lived with Saruman for many years. And now, he was just destroying his city, taking two of my friends captive, killing people, poisoning minds, making enemies. That wasn't the Saruman I knew. And in this quest of ours, if I could, I wanted to save him too, and bring him back to the good side. Even though I doubted if it was possible or not to do it. Legolas must have noticed the pain in my eyes because he approached me and put his hand on my shoulder, in a comforting way, gently rubbing his thumb against my clothes.

"It must be hard for you" he said "Knowing that someone you lived with for many years is now someone evil, that has no mercy"

I looked at him, trying to keep myself from crying. I had already cried too much since I joined the fellowship. And I didn't want to keep on being weak. Even so, tears filled my eyes.

"There, there, no crying" Legolas said, drying up my tears right away "You have to be strong"

I tried to smile a bit. And he grinned back. His smile was just so stunning. For a moment, I felt like that all evil in this world had vanished and that he was the only thing that I actually cared for. I blushed at the thought, looked away from Legolas, and tried to keep the thought away from my mind, because I needed to focus on the quest.

Aragorn made us signal to restart running again. We could not waste time. We restarted running. Everyone was quiet. I couldn't help myself but drowning myself in my memories.

_Saruman. He was there. Welcoming my younger self to my new home, Orthanc. He gently put his hand on my shoulder and helped me carrying my bags, even though he's a bit old to carry heavy things. Then, I thanked Haldir for taking and guiding me there, and he left._

"_So, Elariniel, right?" Saruman asked._

"_Yes" I replied "What should I call you?"_

"_Just Saruman is fine" he said, as we went inside the Tower. _

_He took me to my new room, showed me the different places of Orthanc, where I could find him, and then said I would accompany him on his daily tasks. That sounded fine to me._

"_Saruman" I called out "When will I get to go back home?"_

"_What do you mean? Back home to stay there?" He asked._

"_Yes" I replied "I'm going to miss sister, and the twins. And my father, of course"_

_He grinned at me, leaning on his staff._

"_When your father thinks the task of making you a stronger elf-maiden is complete" he replied "I'll be like your father from now on"_

_I looked up, trying to get the thought of getting a "new father" inside my head. It felt weird but I would have to get used to it. Probably it wouldn't be as bad as I thought at first. I would learn new things and create bonds with other people who could help me and make me a better person._

_I smiled and Saruman smiled back._

I was wondering about that meeting when I heard Legolas's voice next to me.

"Thinking about what happened to Saruman?" he asked.

I nodded and didn't say a thing. I felt his hand gently touching mine, like if he wanted to share his hope with me. I smiled lightly, trying to hide my inside-pain. If I could, I would not only help saving Middle-Earth, _but also save the one who was like a second father to me._

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Greetings from Cattie, once again!

I hope you liked this first chapter of Lord of the Rings: Part II! I tried to add some of Elariniel's memories, so you could understand her point of view towards Saruman, Haldir, her Father, Celebrían, and the people she met in her past better! I hope you enjoyed! I'm doing my best to keep this fanfic interesting and nice to read. Sorry if you find some typos/little grammar errors. English is not my first language! (Also, I'll try to correct some mistakes in Part I when i have enough time!)

Look forward to the next chapter, please! Some nice events will happen! (I'll try to update fast, by the way!) And review please! Each time you review, you save an elf ;D


	2. Chapter 2: Fangorn Forest

Chapter 2 – Fangorn Forest

We kept on running, chasing the Uruks who took Merry and Pippin captive. I was really hungry and getting a bit tired. Even though I was used to exercise a lot, I wasn't really used to this kind of effort. Gimli was still on the last place, Aragorn was on the lead, then Legolas and I was shortly behind Legolas. I tried to keep my mind of any thoughts, because if I got lost in thoughts again, I'd get distracted of what I was doing.

Winter was coming. Night had fallen a few hours ago. It should be around two or three in the morning, and we had to slow down our pace a bit, because it was dark, so we had to be extra careful not to fall or get hurt.

"These rocks are always getting on my way!" I heard Gimli roaring, from behind "But they won't make a dwarf fall so easily"

That very moment, he slipped on a rock and fell.

"Seriously, these rocks…" Gimli muttered.

I turned around to see if he was alright.

"Are you alright?" I asked, approaching him.

"Of course I'm alright, this was nothing" he replied "Master Elf, you need to learn that we, dwarves, are not taken down so easily" he said.

"I didn't say you were" I replied, while I gave him my hand to help him getting on his feet.

"Thank you, but I need no help" he said, standing up straight away.

I saw Legolas approaching us.

"Is everything alright?" He asked "We cannot linger"

"I'm fine" I replied, grinning at him, and he returned a smile.

"Legolas! Gimli! Elariniel! Hurry!" I heard Aragorn's voice commanding, a few meters ahead.

"I sense some interesting climate going on around these sides" Gimli said, while he ran off, to catch up to Aragorn, who had stopped a few meters away from us.

I felt my cheeks burning, and avoided looking at Legolas. I ran off too, so we wouldn't be too delayed.

"Come!" I called Legolas, without looking at him. I'm not sure if he noticed my actions.

He followed me straight away, and then moved closer to Aragorn, and they started talking between themselves, leaving me lost in thoughts for a little bit, until Gimli woke me up for reality.

"Elariniel" He started "Is there something between you and Legolas? There was some love climate back there"

I blushed once again, before replying. I noticed that Legolas had looked back at us. As an elf, he probably heard what Gimli had just said. I fixed his gaze for a bit, before replying.

"No, Gimli, _he's just a friend_"

I smiled a bit at Gimli, and then I looked at Legolas, who was talking to Aragorn again.

I sighed, and Gimli looked at me.

"Yes, right" he said "I thought you were a fast runner. Aren't elves fast?"

I realized that I was running by his side for a while, which meant my pace was being quite slow.

"I was trying to keep a conversation, Master Dwarf" I replied, running off.

Hours passed and around dawn, Aragorn threw us some apples he found around there, so we could eat something while running. I was very thankful he had found something to eat, because I was totally starving.

The sun was rising. It was red. I saw Legolas pausing and looking up at the Sun.

"A red sun rises" he declared "Blood has been spilled this night."

My eyes widened. Could it be? I started wondering what happened. We kept on running. The day was still young when we saw a large group of men riding horses, armed with spears and swords, like if they were going to a battle or ready for one. They were galloping fast, with their banners flying to the wind.

"We should hide!" I exclaimed, running behind some boulders. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli joined me and we carefully scanned the group of horse riders. Aragorn suddenly stood up and walked out of our hiding place as they passed. Legolas followed him, and so did Gimli and I was the last to come out of our hiding spot.

"Riders of Rohan" Aragorn called out "What news from the mark?"

The riders turned back to us, at the signal of their leader, and surrounded us in ever-tightening circles, with their spears pointed, menacingly, at us. I was starting to get slightly worried. Aragorn took his hands up, in signal he wasn't an enemy nor was he going to attack the riders. We stepped closer to each other and I felt a hand on my shoulder trying to calm me down. It was Legolas. I felt him pulling me slightly closer to him.

"What business do two Elves, a man and a Dwarf have in the Riddlemark? Speak quickly!" their leader ordered.

Gimli looked up at the leader of the horse riding, with a challenging expression.

"Give me your name, Horse master, and I shall give you mine" he said.

The leader handed his staff to another rider and got off his horse, looking at Gimli mischievously. I saw Aragorn putting a hand on Gimli's shoulder, trying to get him to stop talking, or else, we'd be in real trouble.

"I would cut off your head, Dwarf" the leader said, in a cocky tone "If it stood a little higher from the ground".

I felt Legolas removing his hand from my shoulder and in a lightning fast movement, he had got an arrow ready and pointed it at the leader.

"You would die before your stroke fell" He said angrily.

All the riders approached us a bit more, pointing the spears extremely close at us, now. I could feel an heavy tension in the air. Aragorn, in order to try and calm things down a bit, pushed down Legolas' arm. The elf returned his hand back to his original position, but his hand on my shoulder was not as light before. I could feel his grip, firm yet gentle. Aragorn was the one who saved us from that moment of tension.

"I'm Aragorn, son of Arathorn" he started, and then looked at Gimli "This is Gimli, son of Glóin, Legolas of the Woodland Realm and Elariniel of Rivendell".

I felt the leader's eyes falling on me.

"We are friends of Rohan" Aragorn continued "And of Théoden, your king"

"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from foe" The leader said, while taking off his helmet "Not even his own kin"

All spears where withdrawn. I let out a deep breath, from relief. I also felt Legolas losing his grip a bit.

"Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands" The leader continued and I felt my heart shrinking "My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we're banished"

"How?" I muttered.

"The white wizard is cunning" he replied "He walks here and there, they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked. Everywhere, his spies slip past our nets."

"We are no spies" Aragorn assured him "We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They've taken two of our friends captive"

I nodded at Aragorn's sentence.

"Did you happen to see two hobbits along with the Uruks?" I hastened to ask.

"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night" the leader answered.

I looked at my friends, starting to feel desperate.

"But there were two hobbits. Did you see two hobbits with them?" Gimli asked.

"Yes, yes! Did you happen to see two hobbits?" I insisted "Tell me they're alive, please!"

"They would be small" Aragorn hastened to add "Only children to your eyes"

"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them" The leader said, while pointing at a tower of smoke, rising in the distance.

"Dead?" Gimli asked, in an almost inaudible mutter.

The leader nodded, looking sorrowful.

"I am sorry"

I felt Legolas arm pulling me closer to him once again, and I saw his other hand landing on Gimli's shoulder in grief. The leader turned his back to us and whistled.

"Hasufel! Arod!" He called out, and two horses approached. One of them was brown, the other was white.

"May these horses bring you better fortune than their former masters. Farewell" The leader concluded while he put his helmet back on and jumped back to his horse "Look for your friends, but do not trust hope. It has forsaken his lands"

Then he turned and commanded his riders to ride north. We saw them disappearing in the distance before getting on our new horses. Legolas went to the white one and Gimli joined him, and I rode with Aragorn, behind him. We rode towards the burning carcasses. When we finally got there, I hurried jumping off my horse and approaching the burning things. There was a stick that had an Uruk-hai head skewered to it. I avoided looking at it. I found it not beautiful at all, even a bit disgusting. I saw Gimli approaching the smoldering pile and start to shift through it, with the help of his ax. Suddenly, he pulled out a charred belt and a dagger sheath.

"It's one of their wee belts" he muttered.

"So, they're death" I said, in a whisper, letting tears fill my eyes, as I dropped to my knees.

I had already lost too many people so far. When I wanted to go on a quest to save Middle-Earth, it wasn't this what I wanted. I didn't want to see my friends fall, leaving memories behind, and pain. I had become close friends with Merry and Pippin during the Fellowship times. And now, they were death. How could it be?! Maybe my father was right. I should have stayed with him, away from suffering. Or maybe not, I would end up suffering even more when I heard about my friends deaths and knowing I did nothing to avoid it.

"Hiro hyn hîdh… ab 'wanath…(May they find peace in Death)" I heard Legolas saying, with his head bowed, eyes closed and one of his hands on top of his heart.

I whispered the same words myself too, before covering my face with my hands and start crying. I just couldn't hold it back anymore.

"ARRRRRRGH" Aragorn yelled as he kicked an helmet and fell to his knees as well.

Legolas nested beside me and removed my hands from my face. I didn't say a word and avoided his gaze.

"We failed them" Gimli said, in a small voice.

Legolas looked at me, as if he could understand all the pain I was going through.

"Cry all you want" he finally said, wrapping his arms around me. I clung a bit to his clothes, as I wet them with tears. He gently stroke my hair, trying to calm me down.

"Why… why does this have to happen?" I asked, faintly.

"We cannot change destiny, we can only change our choices" Legolas answered "And we have to make sure we make the right ones because if we don't, no one will"

I wondered a bit about his words. They sounded wise to me. I guess I wasn't very wise, when compared to other elves. I was more of a curious and reckless elf. I looked up into his eyes, but remained quiet. He wiped up my tears with his fingers.

"Legolas" I started "Sorry for being such a crybaby"

"Don't worry" He replied, with a little smile, poking my nose.

I heard Gimli coughing behind us, and I stopped immediately clinging to Legolas' clothes. I looked at Aragorn, and I noticed that he had now started to analyze some tracks on the ground, as they called his attention.

"A Hobbit lay here," He said, while touching the ground lighty, inspecting the tracks "And the other"

I felt hope reborn within me.

"They crawled" Aragorn noticed, as he started following the tracks. Me, Legolas and Gimli followed him, curious. Could Merry and Pippin actually be alive?

"Their hands were bound" Aragorn concluded, as he kept moving ahead of us. Then, he found some ropes mixed with grass "Their bonds were cut!"

Aragorn started moving a bit faster.

"They ran over here. They were followed"

I was, now, hoping that they could, indeed, be alive.

"The tracks lead away from the battle…" Aragorn declared, as he set off running, following the tracks. Me, Legolas and Gimli hastened to follow him "…into Fangorn Forest"

We all glanced at the forest ahead of us. I had heard about it before. It was old. And trees had come alive. The forest seemed dense, and dark. I tried to find some more tracks on the ground, and they indeed led to that Forest"

"Fangorn" Gimli said, in a quiet voice "What madness drove them there?"

I shook my head. I had no idea of what took our two hobbit friends there. Yet, they could still be alive, and that did calm my troubled heart a bit. I looked at Legolas and Aragorn. Legolas was fully concentrated scanning the woods, and Aragorn was looking around.

"Come on, let's go" Aragorn ordered, taking a step inside the forest, looking fearless.

Gimli held his ax as he followed Aragorn.

Legolas grabbed my wrist gently, and pulled me inside the forest along with him.

"They may yet still be alive" He whispered to me in Elvish, and I nodded, hoping that the fact they were alive really was truth.

We walked a bit inside, scanning everything carefully. Legolas was still holding my wrist, to make sure I was close to the group.

"Stay close" he told me "I have a strange feeling about this place"

I nodded, and followed him.

Gimli was now looking at some leaves from a bush, nearby. One of them was covered with a black substance. The dwarf carefully touched the substance with his fingers, letting them get dirty with it, and then took his fingers to his mouth, in order to try the taste of the substance. Some substances can be distinguished by the different tastes.

The moment the dwarf took the fingers to his mouth, he spat out what he had just tried. I couldn't keep a small giggle to myself, so I just let it out, trying not to be loud.

"Orc blood!" He roared, looking disgusted by what he had just tried. I let out another small giggle, but at the same time, I started feeling worried for Merry and Pippin. Orcs had been there.

"These are strange tracks" Aragorn pointed out, as he explored Fangorn Forest.

We walked a few more steps. Legolas had released my wrist, so I was walking carefully, trying not to fall or get my feet stuck under the deep and strong roots from the trees.

"The air is so close in here!" Gimli complained, breathing loudly.

Legolas walked a little bit ahead and looked at the trees, with a calm expression decorating his stunningly beautiful face.

"The forest is old" He explained "Very old" He paused for a bit, as if he was trying to understand the trees' that were around us feelings "Full of memory"

I looked around. He was right, that forest seemed very old and full of memories. It probably had seen too many winters and had also seen a lot of memories of other elves, men, dwarves, and even orcs.

"…And anger" Legolas concluded, still looking at the trees.

Then, suddenly, we heard some groans echoing through the forest. I instinctively got my hand on my bow, getting it closer to me. Gimli raised his ax, ready to what was about to come.

"The trees are speaking to each other!" Legolas exclaimed, explaining us the meaning of those groans we were hearing through the forest.

"Gimli!" Aragorn called out to the Dwarf, in a whisper.

"Huh?" The dwarf asked, looking quizzically at Aragorn.

"Lower your ax!" Aragorn told him, with a gesture with his hand, signaling to lower his weapon.

"Oh" Gimli let out, lowering his ax slowly, with a funny surprised expression on his face that we barely could see, thanks to his enormous beard.

"They have feelings, my friend" Legolas explained to Gimli "The Elves began it; waking the trees up, teaching them to speak"

"Talking trees? What do trees have to talk about?"Gimli asked himself aloud "Except the consistency of squirrel droppings" He added, following Legolas as he walked towards Aragorn.

I walked towards Aragorn and Legolas, leaving Gimli behind, who seemed to be too busy trying to imagine talking-trees, and what kind of chats did they have between them.

"Aragorn, nad no ennas!(Aragorn, something's out there!)" Legolas said in Elvish.

"Mani naa ta?(What is it?)" I asked, before Aragorn could say anything.

"Man cenich? (What do you see?)" Aragorn questioned the golden-haired elf.

Gimli joined us, and Legolas started speaking in common language instead of Elvish.

"The White Wizard approaches" he announced, quietly; his crystal blue eyes looking slightly to his right side.

Saruman was there. I started feeling afraid. I wanted to help him, yet I was a bit scared of what he had turned himself to be. Well, I hadn't seen him for a long time, but just hearing all the things I heard about him recently! I knew his way of thinking, and he would follow his beliefs, what he thinks that is better, to the end.

"Do not let him speak" Aragorn advised "He will put a spell on us"

I nodded, looking at my companions. I wondered if he knew I set off from Rivendell with the Fellowship. I was almost sure he knew about that. The idea of having someone who I thought of as a second father hurting me and trying to kill me really disturbed me.

Legolas gently patted me on the shoulder, before moving his fingers up one of his arrows, getting it ready to shoot. I saw Aragorn taking his hand to the hilt of his sword and wrapping it around it, ready to fight the wizard. Gimli tighten his hold of his ax, and I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and notched it to my bow.

"We must be quickly" Aragorn said.

I took a deep breath, ready to face the one who took care of me for many years. It wouldn't be easy, but I couldn't let my companions down or even put in cause the future of my beloved Middle-Earth, which I was determined to help and _change the course of its future_.

* * *

Greetings from Cattie!

Thank you for all the kind and encouraging reviews I got! And also, thank you for the follows and favorites! That all means a lot to me! Getting those sure was one of the best ways to start the year! Also, happy new year everyone!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm trying to make quite (ok, not THAT long) long chapters, because I think that with too short chapters, I can't get all the details and character development I want! And that everyone enjoys, I'm sure!

Next chapter, we'll have Rohan! And Edoras! Look forward to it! Thank you for supporting me! I'm really really happy and look forward to chapter 3! :)

Please, review! Reviews mean a lot to me! I like to know what you think of my works!


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